A Protestant’s Plea: Will You Catholics Please Just Stop Praying To Saints Already?!

“Catholics pray to the dead and that’s a grave sin.”

“Catholics pray to saints because they are worshipping them. Worship is for God alone.”

“Catholics practice the grave sin of necromancy when they pray to dead saints, which is strictly forbidden in the Old Testament.”

(Sigh)

You know, I used to believe these things, too, once upon a time. Then I actually had to listen to a Catholic and learn about what they really believe in. I had to actually listen. Many Protestants love to tell Catholics what they believe in without ever actually asking a Catholic.

On several occasions, I’ve had people tell me that Catholics engage in necromancy when they pray to the saints.  Necromancy is defined as the act of trying to conjure up dead spirits in order to have a two-way conversation with them to ask about the future or gain information from them. Think seance. Think Ouji board. Think the movie “Ghost.” I’ve been a Catholic now for eight years and never once have I seen or heard a Catholic doing anything of this nature. In fact, such a practice is condemned by the Catholic Church.

So, I thought I’d start with some basics so that if you have a misunderstanding, you can see exactly what Catholics do believe with regards to praying to the saints.

1. Catholics do not believe saints are mini-gods. We do not treat them as the one true God. In fact, we are repeatedly told not to.
2. Catholics ask the saints to intercede for us–that is, pray for us. That’s why we say things like, “St. Paul, pray for us.” No different than if I asked an earthly friend to pray for me here. “Hey, Mom, pray for me, please.”
3. Before Protestantism came along, “to pray” meant “to ask.” Did you ever read old English text where they say, “Pray, tell”? I used to read that and raise an eyebrow wondering what the heck they meant. Well, it makes sense if you realize that pray also meant to ask–“I ask you, tell.” Protestants have changed the word to mean only giving adoration and worship to God. Catholics see it in a slightly different way. Prayer can mean to worship, give thanks, praise, and…ask. Catholics are taught to ask the saints for their prayers. We aren’t taught to worship the saints through prayer–only ask.
4. Catholics do not believe that saints are dead. In fact, a fundamental belief of Christianity is that Christ conquered death and that those in heaven are alive in Him. Our physical body is dead, but the soul is eternal. If a believer has died in good faith, we have the hope that they are alive in spirit in heaven.
5. We do not expect to have a two-way conversation with the saints. We offer up our voice to them asking for their prayers. Some Protestants chastise Catholics for trying to have contact with the “dead.” Yet, I’ve met scores of people–Protestant or Catholic–who try to have some contact with their loved ones that have passed on. People talk about “feeling” their loved one around them. They “feel” them “watching over me.”  Many people who have loved ones pass on, talk aloud to them. They ask for them to be with them and guide them. Are these not prayers? Prayer does not always mean that you are worshipping and giving glory and honor to that person. No one ever chastises a person for trying to continue to have a relationship with those passed on. No one ever says to them, “You know, you are really practicing necromancy by asking your grandfather to watch over you.”
6. Catholics believe that worship and adoration are reserved for God alone. Asking the saints to pray for us is not giving the saints worship or adoration. It’s asking our brothers and sisters in Christ, that are there with Him, to continue to pray for us. If all believers are members of the Body of Christ, we continue to be even into heaven. It doesn’t follow that God would cut us off from one another.
7. The Catholic Church does not require anyone to pray to the saints. You are encouraged to ask them for their prayers, but you don’t have to as a means to salvation.

“But, nowhere in scripture does it say to pray to the saints.”

You know, you are right. There is no sentence in the Bible that says, “Pray to the saints in heaven.”  Also, there is no verse in the Bible that calls the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity. However, nearly every Protestant that I know of uses the term “Trinity.” There’s also no where in the Bible that says that the Bible alone is the supreme authority.  In fact, in 2 Thess. 2:14, St. Paul tells us to “stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.” Remember, the Apostles didn’t have a comprised New Testament to work off of. The world wouldn’t get the completed Bible until the turn of the 4th century.

We do, however, see in Scripture in 2 Maccabees of the Old Testament, reference to a saint in heaven praying for us.  “Judah has a vision in which St. Onias the high priest shows him Jeremiah the prophet, who was in heaven.” (James Akin)

“And Onias spoke, saying, ‘This is a man who loves the brethren and prays much for the people and the holy city, Jeremiah, the prophet of God.”

If you are a Protestant you may not like this reference, because you won’t have 2 Maccabees in your Bible. It was one of the books removed by Luther during the Protestant Reformation. What gave Luther the authority to remove not only one, but seven books? Luther claims to have more authority than the magisterium of the Catholic Church, which is just one guy’s word against over a thousand years of teaching by Christian leaders.

Another point to think about: If God doesn’t want us having contact with the “dead” then did Jesus do something wrong when He conversed with Moses at the Transfiguration? We know that Moses died because it tells us in Deutreronomy. In Matthew 17, we read about Jesus having a conversation with Moses. You could argue that Jesus is God, so He can do whatever He wants. However, Jesus was also fully human, as well as divine. We are supposed to imitate Christ and we see here that Jesus is speaking with the “dead.” Obviously, Christ didn’t do anything wrong, because he is God and He doesn’t sin. Christ would never do anything that would lead us to sin if we followed His actions.

Several times in the Bible, we see that believers are called the Body of Christ. We are all one in Him. Does it make sense that when a believer passes on and goes to heaven that he/she is now separated from the rest of the body? Why would God cut us off from each other? We are told in James 5:16, that the prayers of a righteous person are very powerful. Those in heaven are very righteous, so doesn’t it make sense that their prayers would be heard? Why would our loved ones in heaven cease to care about praying for us? Do they just stop wanting what is best for us once they reach heaven and they don’t pray for our goodness anymore? That just doesn’t follow everything we know about Christ and Christianity.

We also can have the assurance that the saints in heaven are offering prayers because in Revelations 5:8 and 8:2-4 we see “the prayers of the holy ones mixed with incense at the throne of God.” John is given a vision of heaven and he sees the prayers of the holy ones being offered up. Some suggest that this means something else rather than the saints (holy ones) offering up prayers. I think, though, it takes some scriptural gymnastics to get to that conclusion. I’ve read Protestant views on their interpretation and I haven’t found a clear description of what is happening here.

Most Christians–Catholic and Orthodox–across the world believe in asking for intercession through the saints. Protestants are a small percentage of Christians over the whole world and even within Protestant circles, there is disagreement. So, who is right? Well, the Catholic Church has been around since the beginning of Christianity. For a very long time, the practice of praying to the saints has been established and encouraged. It wasn’t until the 1500s that we see a break and even then Protestants weren’t in agreement.

The Catholic Church teaches that “being more closely united with Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness…They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus.”  

What makes more sense to Christianity?

That upon death, a Christian is cut off from all those on earth and cannot in any way offer prayers in heaven. On earth, they could offer prayers for their brethren, but that ability is not continued into heaven.  

OR

That upon death, a Christian remains apart of the Body of Christ and can offer prayers for those on earth that need those prayers; that those of us on earth can reach out to them and ask them for their prayers, just as we ask another Christian on earth to intercede for us.

Saints praying for us is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a beautiful witness to the wholeness of Christ’s Body. The saints in heaven only want God’s will for us and to help those of us on earth to be brought to the fullness of heaven. How good it is to know, that those of us on earth, can still ask for them to intercede for us. Catholics ask our departed brothers and sisters in heaven to intercede for us to the Father because they are still apart of the Body of Christ and we know that they love us enough to continue to want to help us in heaven.

St. Dominic (1170-1220) before his death saying to his brothers, “Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life.”

St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897) said, “I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth.”